Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Bugs and Speedy sing Calypso

There's a mysterious stop-motion skit that has surfaced on the internet recently, though only as a short clip in black and white. This version gives us more, and in color yet. Apparently it was taped off of a show called "Blue Peter" in 1982. The sketch is a Stan Freberg takeoff on Harry Belafonte's "Banana Boat Song", in which "Belafonte" (Speedy Gonzales) and his bongo player (Bugs Bunny) have a disagreement in the soundbooth. Why they used likenesses of Bugs and Speedy, I have no idea. Maybe Warner Bros. never knew about it, or Freberg was somehow able to get permission (not surprising considering his voice-work for Warners' cartoons.)

This thing's origin is a mystery, and it's a definite piece of "WTF" randomness. Enjoy?

Blue Peter is a very popular and long running kids show from England. It's possible that this could have been a viewer submission from some talented teenager. They've certainly done many features on stop motion in the past, I remember Nick Park showing some of his early work.

I remember seeing this at the time. I think it may have been a competition winner (although it does seem very proficient for a teenage viewer in 1982), because I don't remember them showing clips often unless it was for a purpose. There does seem to be a competition wall behind them as well.

This certainly feels like a student film (not in a bad way, it's actually quite brilliant IMO) - probably not a "talented teenager" however, more likely a college student from some institution like Cal Arts or something.